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To Gratiana dancing and singing

Introduction

Browne’s best-known song, To Gratiana dancing and singing, setting words by Richard Lovelace, was composed in February 1913 for his friend, the tenor Steuart Wilson, and is one of the most beautiful creations in the entire repertoire of twentieth-century English song. The influence of Elizabethan music is apparent: the melody that forms the accompaniment is an anonymous seventeenth-century Allmayne in Elizabeth Rogers’s Virginal Book, which the composer heard in a 1908 while acting in a university production of Milton’s Comus. Over the sonorous, rich chords of the piano, treading the measure of the Allmayne, the vocal line curves and soars in ecstatic wonder at Gratiana’s performance.

Recordings

This recital draws its inspiration from those lives upturned by the Great War, whether soldier or civilian. Alongside established works, the programme introduces little known songs which portray the humanity of those caught up in the torrent of wa ...» More

'An indispensable collection for those who know the repertoire; a revelation to those who do not' (Gramophone)'If you enjoy English song, this set is a must … The singers are Britain's best, and their excellence is matched by the accompaniments of Cliffor ...» More

'An indispensable collection for those who know the repertoire; a revelation to those who do not' (Gramophone)'If you enjoy English song, this set is a must … the singers are Britain's best, and their excellence is matched by the accompaniments of Cliffor ...» More

Details

See! with what constant motion
Even, and glorious, as the sun,
Gratiana steers that noble frame,
Soft as her breast, sweet as her voice
That gave each winding law and poise,
And swifter than the wings of Fame.

Each step trod out a lover’s thought
And the ambitious hopes he brought,
Chain’d to her brave feet with such arts;
Such sweet command, and gentle awe,
As when she ceas’d, we sighing saw
The floor lay pav’d with broken hearts.

So did she move; so did she sing
Like the harmonious spheres that bring
Unto their rounds their music’s aid;
Which she performèd such a way,
As all th’ enamoured world will say:
The Graces danced, and Apollo play’d.

See! with what constant motion
Even, and glorious, as the sun,
Gratiana steers that noble frame,
Soft as her breast, sweet as her voice
That gave each winding law and poise,
And swifter than the wings of Fame.

Each step trod out a lover’s thought
And the ambitious hopes he brought,
Chain’d to her brave feet with such arts;
Such sweet command, and gentle awe,
As when she ceas’d, we sighing saw
The floor lay pav’d with broken hearts.

So did she move; so did she sing
Like the harmonious spheres that bring
Unto their rounds their music’s aid;
Which she performèd such a way,
As all th’ enamoured world will say:
The Graces danced, and Apollo play’d.

See! with what constant motion
Even, and glorious, as the sun,
Gratiana steers that noble frame,
Soft as her breast, sweet as her voice
That gave each winding law and poise,
And swifter than the wings of Fame.

Each step trod out a lover’s thought
And the ambitious hopes he brought,
Chain’d to her brave feet with such arts;
Such sweet command, and gentle awe,
As when she ceas’d, we sighing saw
The floor lay pav’d with broken hearts.

So did she move; so did she sing
Like the harmonious spheres that bring
Unto their rounds their music’s aid;
Which she performèd such a way,
As all th’ enamoured world will say:
The Graces danced, and Apollo play’d.

Richard Lovelace (1618-1657/8)

Richard Lovelace (1618-1657) was from a distinguished military family and a Royalist during the English Civil War. His enthusiastic involvement in politics led to several incarcerations. After one twelve month prison sentence, during which King Charles I was executed and Lovelace’s cause was lost, his creative powers were at their highest, penning his first volume of poetry ‘Lucasta’.

See! with what constant motion
Even, and glorious, as the sun,
Gratiana steers that noble frame,
Soft as her breast, sweet as her voice
That gave each winding law and poise,
And swifter than the wings of Fame.

Each step trod out a lover’s thought
And the ambitious hopes he brought,
Chain’d to her brave feet with such arts;
Such sweet command, and gentle awe,
As when she ceas’d, we sighing saw
The floor lay pav’d with broken hearts.

So did she move; so did she sing
Like the harmonious spheres that bring
Unto their rounds their music’s aid;
Which she performèd such a way,
As all th’ enamoured world will say:
The Graces danced, and Apollo play’d.

See! with what constant motion
Even, and glorious, as the sun,
Gratiana steers that noble frame,
Soft as her breast, sweet as her voice
That gave each winding law and poise,
And swifter than the wings of Fame.

Each step trod out a lover’s thought
And the ambitious hopes he brought,
Chain’d to her brave feet with such arts;
Such sweet command, and gentle awe,
As when she ceas’d, we sighing saw
The floor lay pav’d with broken hearts.

So did she move; so did she sing
Like the harmonious spheres that bring
Unto their rounds their music’s aid;
Which she performèd such a way,
As all th’ enamoured world will say:
The Graces danced, and Apollo play’d.

Richard Lovelace (1618-1657/8)

Richard Lovelace (1618-1657) was from a distinguished military family and a Royalist during the English Civil War. His enthusiastic involvement in politics led to several incarcerations. After one twelve month prison sentence, during which King Charles I was executed and Lovelace’s cause was lost, his creative powers were at their highest, penning his first volume of poetry ‘Lucasta’.